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It is funny how many talk about factory jobs paying a living wage and now they are gone so there is no jobs, yet there are plenty of jobs in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, and Utah that are paying to fly people in from all over the country, and paying for them to have a place to live and food to eat while they work their 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off schedule. Those jobs also pay nearly 6 figures even for someone with no experience, and most of them could care less if you graduated high school.
The difference is these jobs are not in the cities, they are in the elements, and require hard labor, much like our parents/grandparents actually had to do to get started.
If you can get those jobs. Not everyone is cut out for those jobs, physically or mentally. However, if someone wants it enough, they might get something.
My landlord in Canada(in his 70s now) often told me about studying hard and in between those long lectures he'd say how back in his day people could just graduate high school and earn a living. Is this true? By that logic in the 80s a bachelors would have been enough to get a great job. But how is it even possible?
Let alone engineering or medicine related gigs, even something like being a curator would need something more than a high schoool diploma, or a teacher would require some more experience.
Was he just trying to scare me because it doesn't make any sense. I can understand the rise in competition and all that, but still.
No, he wasn't trying to scare you and what he told you is true. But you need to ask about the cost of living back in his day. We rented an apartment in 1963, a duplex, two bedroom, one bath, $40.00 a month. Our telephone bill, private line was $9.00, no cable TV, no cell phones, no GPS (I still love my paper maps & Atlas) gasoline prices was less than 50 cents a gallon.
We bought our first home in 1964, beautiful brick home on 1 1/2 acre lot. Three bedrooms, formal living room with a big ole picture window, hardwood floors, kitchen (no granite or stainless steel, just Harvest Gold, Avocado Green or white appliances ) We sacrificed and saved $1,000.00 for a down payment and monthly payments of $71.00 a month which included taxes and insurance.
I went to work straight out of high school at a local bank while hubby was in college. I advanced as high as the establishment would allow a female to go in the dark ages of the 60's. All the bank officers were male, all branch managers were male back in the good old days. During the 70's the female empowerment movement (I Am Woman Hear Me Roar) woke me up. Hubby was established in his career so I quit the bank and back to school for me.
The 60's cannot be practically compared to our present day economy and employment. But the 60's was a wonderful time to be alive.
Baby Boomers rode a wave of prosperity that allowed many to have multiple, successful upper-middle class careers with only marginal education and experience (liberal arts degrees, high school diplomas). They bought cheap homes, paid little to nothing for healthcare and education, and many are very wealthy today.
Contrast that to your average gen x'er and the story is very different. I have to work much harder and make much more than all of my retiree boomer neighbors ever did, but I still live the exact same lifestyle they do.
No, he wasn't trying to scare you and what he told you is true. But you need to ask about the cost of living back in his day. We rented an apartment in 1963, a duplex, two bedroom, one bath, $40.00 a month. Our telephone bill, private line was $9.00, no cable TV, no cell phones, no GPS (I still love my paper maps & Atlas) gasoline prices was less than 50 cents a gallon.
We bought our first home in 1964, beautiful brick home on 1 1/2 acre lot. Three bedrooms, formal living room with a big ole picture window, hardwood floors, kitchen (no granite or stainless steel, just Harvest Gold, Avocado Green or white appliances ) We sacrificed and saved $1,000.00 for a down payment and monthly payments of $71.00 a month which included taxes and insurance.
I went to work straight out of high school at a local bank while hubby was in college. I advanced as high as the establishment would allow a female to go in the dark ages of the 60's. All the bank officers were male, all branch managers were male back in the good old days. During the 70's the female empowerment movement (I Am Woman Hear Me Roar) woke me up. Hubby was established in his career so I quit the bank and back to school for me.
The 60's cannot be practically compared to our present day economy and employment. But the 60's was a wonderful time to be alive.
Every word so true. Always ask him to tell you the cost of living. When anyone tells you about how they lived on less income, ask them what things cost. But I don't think that's what your landlord was telling you. He was telling you how much easier it was to get a job and stuggle through. People did struggle but they felt they had a chance. The struggle was worth it when they could see a goal approaching. Today is another story. Back then we needed to take advantage of every opportunity that presented itself. The same is true today but I fear the advantages are harder to grab. People used to burn mortgages. They owned their homes free and clear after that. Today, they just renew the mortgages and the debt goes on. How does anyone afford college today? My tuition, after a two-year scholarship was $20 a credit hour. My wages were in the pits. But I made it! And, right, Carolina Woman, women had a double strike against them. How well I remember.
It's not so hard today as all that. I graduated from high school in the '60s, but thanks to chronic depression and a divorce, started over with nothing and deeply in debt in 1983. It took determination. I lived in a 14' travel trailer for 3 years and worked 2 jobs, first to dig my way out of debt, then to save enough money to get life started again. At the end of 3.5 years I treated myself to 3 months in Europe, came back, got married and bought a starter home. I now have a gorgeous home on 90+ acres with a creek in the back yard, gazebo wired for internet and power overlooking the creek, deck, patio, hot tub and outbuildings, also plumbed with water and wired for power. My wife and I paid off the mortgage in 2005, but instead of blowing the money we started making $2000/month payments into retirement accounts. Showing remarkably good sense, when gasoline hit $4 a gallon I pulled out of the stock market before the crash, then bought back in at the bottom. This doubled the size of my retirement account in 3 years.
The reason young people think it's tough nowadays is that they don't have the courage to be poor. I carried my lunch and a thermos of coffee to work every day for 30 years, and to this day have never set foot inside a Starbucks. For most of those 30 years I drove an old beater that I paid cash for, and have never made a car payment. Clear back in '83 I found myself making $200/mo payments to the credit card company while never paying off the balance. When my next tax return came in I paid off the credit card and started making the same $200/mo payment to myself. I haven't paid a dime of credit card interest in 30 years. All that money stays in my bank account.
If you have the get up and go to run your own business, you are best served by avoiding college. For many people it's just not worth the money. A 2 year associate's degree at the local community college will give you some vocational credentials, if you study something useful like bookkeeping, nursing, welding or surveying. One young woman I know skipped college and started a catering business out of her home. She now has 12 employees and a 6 figure income, at 26 years of age. She's building a small processing facility so she can sell her own line of gourmet jellies and sauces. No, it's not a new, fancy building, it's an abandoned metal sided machine shop with concrete floors, easy truck access, plenty of warehouse space, three phase power and natural gas. The contractors she is working with don't have college degrees either.
You will never be paid as well as when you are working for yourself.
I read a news story a few months ago about a woman who quit university after one or two years (forget which) and hired herself out to a company as an apprentice. She said she learned more that way and learned it faster than anything university was giving her. She is also doing quite well today. Everyone finds a way if he has the will.
Baby Boomers rode a wave of prosperity that allowed many to have multiple, successful upper-middle class careers with only marginal education and experience (liberal arts degrees, high school diplomas). They bought cheap homes, paid little to nothing for healthcare and education, and many are very wealthy today.
Contrast that to your average gen x'er and the story is very different. I have to work much harder and make much more than all of my retiree boomer neighbors ever did, but I still live the exact same lifestyle they do.
Even gen X have it easier than the millennials. Yet because we "'complain' because we can't find anything to start up" we are called "whiners." Are we really whiners though when things are rather hard when it comes to start up.
It is funny how many talk about factory jobs paying a living wage and now they are gone so there is no jobs, yet there are plenty of jobs in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, and Utah that are paying to fly people in from all over the country, and paying for them to have a place to live and food to eat while they work their 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off schedule. Those jobs also pay nearly 6 figures even for someone with no experience, and most of them could care less if you graduated high school.
You can bet that the consumer is paying for these salaries in the form of higher prices. The oil companies are not going to take the hit, trust me.
Baby Boomers rode a wave of prosperity that allowed many to have multiple, successful upper-middle class careers with only marginal education and experience (liberal arts degrees, high school diplomas). They bought cheap homes, paid little to nothing for healthcare and education, and many are very wealthy today.
Contrast that to your average gen x'er and the story is very different. I have to work much harder and make much more than all of my retiree boomer neighbors ever did, but I still live the exact same lifestyle they do.
It is funny how many talk about factory jobs paying a living wage and now they are gone so there is no jobs, yet there are plenty of jobs in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, and Utah that are paying to fly people in from all over the country, and paying for them to have a place to live and food to eat while they work their 2 weeks on and 2 weeks off schedule. Those jobs also pay nearly 6 figures even for someone with no experience, and most of them could care less if you graduated high school.
The difference is these jobs are not in the cities, they are in the elements, and require hard labor, much like our parents/grandparents actually had to do to get started.
Part of the reason that the companies are flying in workers to these areas from out of state is because the skill sets needed for the jobs aren't there. That's the pattern with oil/gas drilling anyway, bring in the crews for drilling (because once the hole is drilled that particular phase is over) and then the locals take over the maintenance. Which is what is now happening in PA in the fracking area.
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) We sacrificed and saved $1,000.00 for a down payment and monthly payments of $71.00 a month which included taxes and insurance. 
